Favorite Comedies - From the Marx Brothers to the Farrelly Brothers
"A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing." - Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I'm fascinated by the history of comedy, how it evolved over the decades, which comedians shaped it. Below are my favorites, as well as significant works/artists.
I'm fascinated by the history of comedy, how it evolved over the decades, which comedians shaped it. Below are my favorites, as well as significant works/artists.
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- DirectorMel BrooksStarsCleavon LittleGene WilderSlim PickensIn order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.(Mel Brooks) AFI thinks Blazing Saddles is the 6th best comedy ever made. Mel Brooks thinks it's number one. I'm with Melvin. In Blazing Saddles, Brooks introduces the shameless, full throttle brand of humor Zucker Abrahams Zucker later champion in Airplane! Naked Gun and others. But where Zucker Abrahams Zucker skewer disaster movies and pop culture trends, Brooks goes after racism and bigotry; while championing the fallen. I wish there was a Blazing Saddles for every regressive attitude we see in our imperfect world. Really, imagine that.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsRobert HaysJulie HagertyLeslie NielsenAfter the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.(Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker) Everyone knows where they were when JFK was killed. And no one forgets the first time they saw Airplane! and were pummeled by joke after joke, and found themselves in a world were everything was hysterical. If you can't use unhinged hysteria to ridicule racism and bigotry (Blazing Saddles) use it for the sake of making millions of people laugh.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsRob ReinerMichael McKeanChristopher GuestSpinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.(Christopher Guest) The first of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, Spinal Tap is pure satire. The world of hard rock behavior and pretense prove to be even more fertile ground for comedy than international dog breeding competitions which Guest & Co. has a good laugh at in Best In Show.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsGene WilderMadeline KahnMarty FeldmanAn American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.(Mel Brooks)
- 19641h 35mPG8.3 (520K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.(Kubrick) Where Brooks roasts racism and bigotry in Blazing Saddles, Kubrick uses humor to ridicule man's destructive, senseless, and psychotic potential in Dr. Strangelove. The quintessential dark comedy.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonTony RobertsAlvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.(Woody Allen) Ah insecurity... anxiety... neurosis... guilt... worry... Woody Allen is the patron Saint of all things Fearful.
- DirectorJared HessStarsJon HederEfren RamirezJon GriesA listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsJohn BelushiKaren AllenTom HulceAt a 1962 college, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.(Harold Ramis/John Landis) Harold Ramis wrote Animal House, Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters. That's some career. Animal House pulls the chair out from under elitism and knights the benevolent beer drinker and slob as king. I wanna say Animal House changed the face of comedy to follow it, but it's probably more accurate to say Harold Ramis did.
- CreatorNeal BrennanDave ChappelleStarsDave ChappelleDonnell RawlingsRudy RushComedian Dave Chappelle hosts this sketch-comedy show that parodies many of the nuances of race and culture.
- CreatorLorne MichaelsStarsThe Saturday Night Live BandDon PardoDarrell HammondA famous guest host stars in parodies and sketches created by the cast of this witty show.
- CreatorAndrew AlexanderStarsJohn CandyJoe FlahertyEugene LevyComedy parody about TV.
- CreatorFax BahrAdam SmallStarsMichael McDonaldDebra WilsonAries SpearsA sketch comedy show based on the seminal Mad Magazine.
- CreatorKeenen Ivory WayansStarsKeenen Ivory WayansJim CarreyKelly Coffield ParkThe Wayans siblings present an African-American focused sketch comedy show.
- CreatorJackie GleasonStarsJackie GleasonArt CarneyAudrey MeadowsA bus driver and his sewer worker friend struggle to strike it rich while their wives look on with weary patience.
- StarsCarol BurnettVicki LawrenceThe Ernie Flatt DancersTelevision show featuring skits by Carol Burnett and her comedy troupe.
- CreatorGraham ChapmanEric IdleTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseTerry GilliamThe original surreal sketch comedy showcase for the Monty Python troupe.
- CreatorJerry BelsonGarry MarshallStarsTony RandallJack KlugmanAl MolinaroTwo men, a neat freak and a slob separated from their wives, have to live together despite their differences.(Neil Simon) At one point Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Neil Simon all worked together on Sid Ceasar's Your Show of Shows. The Odd Couple is fun to watch and Felix Ungar is one of the most entertaining characters ever created.
- CreatorSusan HarrisStarsKatherine HelmondRod RoddyRichard MulliganThe soap-operish antics of two families: the Campbells and the Tates.
- CreatorHugh WilsonStarsGary SandyGordon JumpLoni AndersonThe misadventures of the staff of a struggling Top 40 rock radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- CreatorLarry DavidJerry SeinfeldStarsJerry SeinfeldJulia Louis-DreyfusMichael RichardsThe continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
- CreatorDennis KleinGarry ShandlingStarsGarry ShandlingJeffrey TamborWallace LanghamA comedic behind the scenes look at a late night talk show.
- CreatorLarry DavidStarsLarry DavidCheryl HinesJeff GarlinLarry David stars as an over-the-top version of himself in this comedy series that shows how seemingly trivial details of day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events.
- DirectorSam WoodEdmund GouldingStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA veterinarian posing as a doctor teams with a singer and his friends as they struggle to save an upstate New York sanitarium with the help of a misfit racehorse.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxThe Marx Brothers are employed at a hotel in postwar Casablanca, where a ring of Nazis is trying to recover a cache of stolen treasure.(Marx Bros.)